History In My Head
by Kurt's Anatomy
Summary: When a freak accident leaves Kurt Hummel orphaned at just nine, it's up to his uncle and godfather, Tony Stark, to do the best he can to keep Kurt from breaking apart. As the two navigate a life without their loved ones, they realise that sticking together isn't always the easiest option...especially when one of them is an Avenger.
1. The Lonely Child

Chapter 1- The Lonely Child

* * *

In the space of a few weeks, Tony Stark went from being a carefree bachelor to the father of a child.

It all started when his sister, Elizabeth and her husband Burt, died in a freak car accident that would be the talk of the country for the following few months. The trial of the drunk driver in the other car was nationalised and everybody watched with bated breath as his prosecution fate was announced.

What was often touched upon in the reports was the fate of their son, Kurt.

Kurt was used as a weapon by the lawyers and Tony had witnessed the entire thing, horrified by their actions. Kurt was eight going on nine and he was being exploited for his status as an orphan. Tony could relate, he was the same. Howard and Maria had died quite some time ago, but the feeling of being an orphan was always there, lingering away in the back of Tony's mind, hidden behind the assurances that he had no problems at all.

Elizabeth had left behind a will, detailing that all of her assets go to Kurt, the monetary side to go into a college fund. The total would allow Kurt to go anywhere he desired without the burden of student loans on his back after graduation.

In what shouldn't have been such a shock, Kurt had been left to Tony, his uncle and official godfather.

Redeemed playboy Tony Stark was enlisted to care for a child of nine years old.

Boy was he screwed.

Tony knew nothing about children. He hadn't really been around while Kurt was growing up, so they would have to completely build a new relationship, all while dealing with their respective grief. Tony had lost his sister and that was awful and he didn't even know how to begin to deal with that, but Kurt had lost both of his parents at the same time. Tony knew firsthand that nothing would ever compare to the horror of that.

So when he was to pick Kurt up for the first time, he wasn't going to pretend like he wasn't nervous. A lot of the time, Tony concealed his true emotions from everybody, mostly because of his celebrity persona that he had built; the cocky, arrogant asshole who secretly did good things for the environment under the guise of charitable contributions to enhance his image.

Now he was the guardian of a nine year old orphan.

Oh how times had changed.

"Hi, Uncle Tony," Kurt muttered as he saw Tony waiting, leaning against the side of his car. He had brought one of the low key cars for this excursion just so less attention would be drawn to it.

Tony put on his best smile as he appraised the boy.

He looked thin, thinner than Tony remembered from pictures. It looked like he wasn't eating and there were thick, dark circles underneath his eyes that gave away his lack of regularity in his sleeping pattern. Tony almost winced at how rough he looked but, given the circumstances, it was understandable.

Despite that, Tony was surprised at how pretty Kurt was. Pictures portrayed him as a normal pale kid with an interesting shine in his eyes and a big smile on his face. Kurt had always been a happy child and Tony felt sick that the world had taken that away from him.

"Hey, kid," Tony muttered nervously. He was taken by surprise when Kurt ran up to him and held him tightly, his height meaning that his head crashed against Tony's stomach, just above his bellybutton.

Holding Kurt close to him, Tony was stunned at the gesture. He and Kurt were not close by any means, but they were still family. Elizabeth had always told him that Kurt was extremely averse to physical affection unless it was with his parents, so the touch confused Tony. Had Kurt adapted truly this quickly? Tony didn't think that was humanly possible, although it made sense that dire situations called for necessary adaptation.

"Uncle Tony? You can let go now."

Tony cradled his head tighter. "No, I don't think I can," he whispered.

He felt Kurt chuckle against his body and it was in that moment that Tony Stark knew that he was going to be fine.

* * *

Tony tapped his fingers on the table. This is the part he was not very good at. Emotional communication. The dreaded 'E' word.

Emotion had been something that his father had drilled out of him. Tony didn't think it was wholly intentional, it had just happened. All of those years being told he wasn't enough, being compared to Steve fucking Rogers had conditioned him to shrivel up when the faintest chance of emotional confrontation presented itself.

It's not that he didn't _have_ emotions, of course he did. Despite what modern media tried to paint in their sorry attempts at expositional journalism, he actually felt things that weren't about himself. He just hid them spectacularly well a lot of the time. Pepper knew exactly how to see through him, though, and she was just about the only person alive who could. Elizabeth had an uncanny ability to get him to say how he was feeling without him really realising.

But she was gone now.

And that ached more than he could've imagined.

Tony had to work out a way to push his grief all the way down so that Kurt would be okay. Kurt was his main priority now.

Speaking of, the boy was sat opposite him, fingers drumming on the edge of his glass of water. He hadn't drank anything since he had arrived at Tony's mansion. His head was down and he seemed to be in a world of his own.

"You not thirsty, kid?"

Kurt's head snapped up. The blankness on his face made Tony flinch slightly. He looked unlike himself. "What? Oh, sorry. I was…could you repeat yourself, please?"

Tony tried not to smile at how much Kurt reminded him of Elizabeth when they were growing up. The politeness, the desire to appease everybody at the expense of herself. The signs were all there: Kurt was going to grow to be a remarkable man.

"I was just wondering if you were actually thirsty or just humouring me when I offered you water."

Kurt swallowed. "I...I wasn't thirsty then. I just didn't want to seem rude. It's your house and you're letting me stay here."

It was only then that Tony realised that for all of Kurt's emotional maturity and politeness, he was still very young. He still had a lot to learn. Tony knew that he was intelligent; Elizabeth would email him copies of some of Kurt's assignments and they were vastly more advanced than the average level of his classmates. He was more advanced than even Tony himself was at that age.

"Kurt, you're family. From this point on, this house is as much yours as it is mine. I want you to feel comfortable and safe here."

Kurt nodded slightly, looking down at his hands which were now on his lap, probably intertwined.

"Kurt-."

Tony was interrupted by a voice that reverberated across the room.

"Mr. Stark, you have a call waiting on Line One. It's Ms. Potts."

Tony sighed and waved a hand. "Thanks, J. Tell her I'll call her back later tonight."

Kurt stared at him from across the table.

Tony smiled. "That was Jarvis. You probably don't remember the last time you were here, do you?"

Kurt shook his head.

"You were three and everyone was here for Christmas. Your mom had…" Tony trailed off, not sure how this would play out.

Kurt bit his lip. "You can carry on, if you want. I need to get used to talking about them."

Tony nodded. "Your mom had made a big fuss about how dinner needed to be cooked just right and that I should just have let her prepare everything. But this was the first time that Christmas had been at my place and I wanted to do it all. Your dad was in the living room pretending to be interested in what Jarvis was saying to him about the architecture of the house.

"You were playing with the remote control helicopter that your dad got for you. You were bored easily with that one, so you moved on to the Sailor Moon action figures that I got for you."

Kurt let out a small laugh and Tony realised it was the first outlet of positivity Kurt had displayed since arriving. "That certainly sounds like me."

Tony matched his laugh. "You were caught up in that wild imagination of yours. You were basically writing a screenplay.

"Anyway, I had your mom breathing down my neck the entire time, making sure I didn't fu- _mess_ up the dinner."

"And did you?" Kurt raised an eyebrow.

Tony shook his head fondly at the memory. "All over the place. Your dad pretended that it was the greatest meal he'd ever eaten just to be gracious, but you and your mom had things to say about it. I mean, not so much you because you didn't really know how to express what you wanted to say. Your mom was not happy with it. The turkey was fine, but everything else went to shit."

Tony sighed. "Sorry. Just slipped out. You know not to use bad language, right? I'm sure Lizzie would've taught you that."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm not six, Uncle Tony. I know most of those words. A lot of the parents of the kids at my school have no problem cursing in front of the entire playground."

"It's good to know you're not following their example."

Tony and Kurt talked for about an hour before Kurt expressed his desire for food. After the Christmas story, Kurt was in no hurry to be treated with Uncle Tony's cooking skills again. Tony, with some help from Jarvis, ordered pizzas for them both and showed Kurt around the house while they waited, explaining that he could go anywhere he wanted except for the lab. Tony wasn't stupid and he knew that a curious mind like Kurt would have a field day looking at all of his various contraptions and gadgets that he was working on. The Iron Man suits were firmly locked away from everyone but himself, but there were still things lying around that Kurt could harm himself on.

* * *

After they ate, Kurt retired to his bedroom for the night, wanting to settle in as soon as possible to make the transition easier for both of them. Tony remained in the living room, a glass of scotch in his hand, flipping through the television channels and not really paying much attention to much of anything.

He thought about Kurt and how strong he was being, keeping everything together for whatever reason. Maybe he _was_ just that emotionally secure. It was with a wince that Tony realised that no kid should ever have to be that resilient. From what Lizzie had told him, Kurt hadn't had the easiest childhood, being different from his peers in every single way. He was smarter, more emotionally mature, had different interests and generally preferred his own company than that of others. Tony made a note to ask Kurt if he had any friends. Even to somebody as independent as Kurt needed friends. It was crucial to a child's development and helped shaped them into the people they were when they grew up.

Right then, Tony felt himself growing angry about the way the world had treated Kurt.

As Tony felt his rage grow, he heard a pattering of footsteps descend the stairs.

"Uncle Tony?" Kurt came into view, dimly lit by the television lighting. Kurt rubbed his eyes and sniffled. Tony's heart sank.

"Hey, buddy. You alright?"

Kurt exhaled raggedly. "I know it's stupid, but I had a dream."

Ah. It was that kind of night. Tony had had dreams like that before, starring Howard and Maria. Mostly his mom, but Howard was more of a supporting character.

Tony patted the space next to him. "You want to talk about it?"

Kurt nodded and sat down, bringing his knees up to his chin. Tony was just glad that Kurt was willing to open up to him about it. That took real strength. Many thought that the 'grin and bear it' technique was the trademark of a strong human being, but self-expression was much harder.

"It was _that_ night. I was pleading with them not to leave with me with the babysitter. He really didn't like me at all. They said it was going to be fine and left for their date. Suddenly, the dream changed and _I_ was driving the car that killed them."

Tony's eyes fluttered closed as he placed a tentative hand on Kurt's shoulder. He didn't know how Kurt was going to react to physical contact. As Tony should have suspected, Kurt flinched away.

"Sorry. I just...don't really like being touched."

Tony immediately withdrew his hand. "Gotcha. No touching."

"Thanks. Anyway, I was heading towards them in the car and...I sped up. I wasn't in control, the car just kept going until it hit them! They were looking at me through the window and they were crying, screaming, saying it was all my fault."

Tony blinked. "You know it wasn't your fault, don't you?"

Kurt looked up, tears blotching his pale skin. "Yes. But maybe if I hadn't have argued with them about leaving the house, they wouldn't have been in that place at that time. They would've been here today, maybe."

Tony turned his body to face Kurt. "Kurt, that's not your fault. The only person who is at fault is that asshole who decided to drink and drive. You played no part in this. A completely indescribably awful thing happened to you and it's natural to self-blame. Trust me, I went through the ringer with that one."

"Your parents…" Kurt trailed off.

Tony nodded, sighing. "We're in the same boat, kid. Well, that's actually not true. Both of your parents loved you more than their own lives. I'm going to give you time to grieve however you want to. If you want to see someone, a professional, I'll be happy to set that up. If you want to fill a room with smashable objects and just have at it, that can be arranged. The one thing I won't allow is you blaming yourself for what happened. You got me?" Tony hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but the emotion inside of him had burst to the forefront, controlling his words.

If Kurt detected the coldness of his tone, he didn't acknowledge it. He simply dipped his head into a nod and wiped his eyes. "I know it's not my fault, Uncle Tony. The rational part of me knows that. There's just that one part in the back of my mind that…"

"That thinks you could have stopped it somehow if you could _just_ do it over again," Tony finished for him, because he knew that was exactly what Kurt was about to say.

"Yeah. I know it's stupid and I shouldn't waste time thinking like that, but I can't help it. I'd give anything."

"I know, kid. Me too."

Kurt looked up, tears gone from his eyes. "Do you mind if I hug you?"

Tony frowned. "I thought the no touching thing…"

Kurt shifted. "It's fine if I initiate it, I guess."

Tony opened his arms and let the sniffling boy crawl into them, laying his head on Tony's chest.

Tony only meant for the hug to last a few seconds, but he soon realised that Kurt had fallen asleep on him. The soft, light sounds of the boy's breathing soothed him almost to the point of drifting off, too. He shook his head and secured Kurt in his arms before lifting the boy, alarms bells ringing inside his head at how light he was. Sure, he was a small, thin nine year old boy, but this was something else. Tony made a mental note to investigate the issue further as he carried Kurt to his bedroom.

Laying the boy in his double bed, Tony sighed, thinking about how these fleeting moments of peaceful unconsciousness were proving to be the only moments in Kurt's life where pain didn't follow him. And even then there were the nightmares.

As Tony closed the door, he brushed a hand down his face. This was certainly a new development for both of them and would be the harshest test of their respective characters. Sure, they would likely fall over some of the hurdles, but as long as they used each other to get back up, then maybe things would sort themselves out given some time.

Maybe they would be okay.


	2. A Messed Up Sense Of Normality

Chapter 2- A Messed Up Sense Of Normality

* * *

If there was anything that proved to Tony that Kurt was trying his very best to be strong, it was the fact that he was returning to school a few weeks earlier than planned. The elementary school had suggested that Kurt take a month to himself to adjust to his new surroundings. Whilst Tony thought that that was a good idea, Kurt had vehemently disagreed.

" _I love this house, Uncle Tony, but I can't stay here for a month without going to school. I'll have nothing to do with my day. Plus I'd fall behind and have to repeat the grade which is the last thing I want to do!"_

After that, Tony couldn't help but agree. If Kurt was sure that he wanted to go back to school, Tony definitely wasn't going to be the one to get in his way of that. He imagined that if the school tried to intervene, Kurt would calmly and rationally lay out all the reasons he believed himself fit to return to school. It hadn't been long at all since the accident and Tony was silently wishing that Kurt would take a little more time to regroup. Yet the boy was adamant and that was enough for his uncle.

So after a morning of Tony repeating the question, " _Are you absolutely positive that you want to be going back to school today, Kurt?",_ the decision was set in stone. Kurt was going back to school.

And it turned out that he had the worst sense of timing.

* * *

Tony came out of the principal's office feeling surprisingly good about Kurt's return to the institution.

After a quick rundown of the situation, the principal explained that Kurt was in no academic trouble, even if he had missed the month. Tony figured as much was the case. He knew about Kurt's high intelligence for his age and for older ages, too. It wasn't much of a surprise that he ahead of his peers. He had good genetics and keen thirst for learning, he had shown that much at an early age.

Tony had spent the first half of the morning wondering how Kurt was doing when it dawned on him that if there was a problem, the school would call him. He just had to sit back and go about his day. It was a slow day, nonetheless, until the middle of the afternoon when Tony's usual lunch of pizza was interrupted by a visitor.

"Tony Stark, going about his business as if he's some kind of mere mortal," was the greeting and Tony smiled and shivered at the tone. His favourite and least favourite person, depending on his mood and the situation.

"Good afternoon to you too, Miss Romanoff."

The woman frowned. "You sound like Jarvis."

"It's called a politeness feature. You should try it sometime. For example, you know, knocking? That's a thing that people do. I can understand why you're not used to it given all the sneaking and breaking into places you do."

"Ouch," she smirked. "Right where it hurts. My espionage skills."

Tony sighed softly. "Why are you here, Natasha?"

She looked around, innate paranoia kicking in immediately. "I just wanted to know how you were doing."

"You couldn't have called?"

Natasha was used to Tony being aggravating and acerbic, but she was still taken aback just a little bit each time it happened. "I thought it would be more personal this way. We haven't really spoken since it happened, Tony. I'm just making sure you doing okay."

Tony felt the tears spring to his eyes, but he quickly diminished them as he always did with nothing but a cough and a shake of his head. "I'm okay. I'm mostly focused on Kurt these days, anyway."

Natasha smiled sympathetically. "How is he doing?"

"He went back to school."

"Already?" She was surprised; she didn't think anybody would make a decision like that. "And you didn't try to stop him?"

Tony stared at her. "You seriously think I would have let him just go back to school as thought nothing had happened? Of course I tried to stop him. But he's not just an ordinary nine year old, Nat. He's incredibly self-possessed and made it clear that I wasn't going to make his decisions for him."

Natasha blinked rapidly. "Tony, he's a child. You're his guardian, you're _supposed_ to make these decisions for him."

Tony had no more arguments for her. His lips tightened into a thin smile. "Just wait until you meet him. You'll understand. He isn't like most kids his age."

Before Natasha could speak, Tony's phone buzzed.

Jarvis alerted his attention. "Mr. Stark, the elementary school is calling."

"Thanks J! Oh god." Tony answered the call. "Tony Stark."

" _Ah, Mr. Stark. I'm afraid there's been a bit of an incident involving Kurt and another boy."_

Tony's mind blanked on the words. "Incident? What do you mean, incident?"

" _Well, I've got them both here and they seemed to have been fighting each other. I'm not sure who started it or why they were fighting but they've both been pretty badly bruised. You wouldn't think two nine year olds could hurt each other this much."_

Tony was willing to bet his entire fortune and his company that this other boy was a lot bigger than Kurt and that Kurt was a lot more injured. "I'm on my way."

" _Thank you, Mr. Stark."_

Natasha raised her eyebrow. "Problem?"

"Not now, Romanoff. This sounds serious."

She nodded and her smirk was gone in an instant. That was one of the things that Tony loved about her. She could easily shift her demeanour to suit any situation if needed. She was a master of her own emotions and Tony thought that was admirable.

"Do you want to come with you?"

Tony shrugged. "If you want to."

"You might need some reinforcements."

Tony shrugged once more and Natasha rolled her eyes as they headed towards the car, the less ostentatious one that Tony preferred when he wasn't thinking about speed or the paparazzi. Blending in was hard for him, but he could do it if and when he needed to.

* * *

Tony and Natasha made it to the school in record time, slamming the car doors shut and heading for the front reception of the school.

The receptionist looked at the two of them and frowned. "How can I…?"

"I'm looking for my nephew, Kurt Hummel. I was told to come in."

The receptionist had a peculiar look in her eye as she gave the two directions towards the principal's office.

Walking through the school, Natasha hummed.

"What?"

She smirked. "Just looking at what I missed out on. All these lockers, lined up so neatly along the wall. Everything's so ordered."

Tony appraised her curiously. "You ever wish you could've done all of this? The humdrum school life with no killing?"

Natasha tilted her head. "Sometimes. Although my skillset has comes in handy more times than I can count. I have a feeling they don't teach target practice in Gym class these days."

Tony chuckled. "No, but they should."

"What, so your average schoolyard fight turns into a gunfight?"

Tony shrugged. "I doubt most of these kids know which end of the gun the bullet fires from. From what Kurt's told me, they're not the brightest."

"Kids usually aren't. And when they are, they're usually highly intelligent."

At that point, they had reached the Principal's office.

When Tony and Natasha were allowed, they saw the situation for what it really was.

There sat Kurt, an furious twinkle in his eyes and a smattering of dried blood around his face and on his shirt. The other boy was relatively unscathed save for a bruise above his eye.

From Tony knew of conflict and his nephew, it was rather easy to piece together what actually transpired.

Kurt had thrown the first punch, a fairly weak blow to just the right place above the eye for it to bruise. The bigger kid had grown angry and beaten Kurt to a pulp until somebody eventually intervened.

"Sit down, Mr. Stark, please. There are a few things we need to discuss. Noah, if you could wait outside for a few minutes." The Principal sounded very tired of the entire situation and Tony couldn't wait until she showed it.

Noah trudged outside, milking his bruise for all that it was worth. Tony rolled his eyes as did Natasha.

Principal Matthews turned to Tony. "Is this is your wife, Mr. Stark?"

Natasha smirked. "He wishes. No, I'm a family friend."

"Very well," she nodded. "Thank you both for coming down. The situation is this…"

Kurt quietly held up a hand. "If I may intervene here and tell it as it happened."

Principal Matthews glared at the boy briefly, but sensed Natasha looking back at her. She averted her gaze and nodded.

Kurt straightened his bloodstained shirt and cleared his throat. "So it was recess and I was wandering around the playground. The teachers don't let me stay inside the classrooms anymore because they want me to be more social or something.

"So I'm looking for something to do to occupy my time and then I realise that I can just sit down by the tree with a book and read until it's time for class again."

Tony smiles to himself as he's reminded of a younger version of himself, always reading and ignoring his peers. Well, for the most part. That lasted until the age of sixteen, when he realised that putting his penis inside somebody could feel extremely good.

"I'm there, just reading and minding my own business, when Noah comes up to me and takes the book. This is happened way too many times for me to not know how this would end. I try to get it back and it ends up getting ruined.

"So I try to have a discussion with him, telling him that I wanted my book back and that he had no right to take it from me. He then proceeded to throw it onto the roof of the building."

Tony was growing angrier by the second.

"And it was only then when I realised something. I don't have to put up with this kind of treatment. I can try and do something about it. So I stood up and confronted the situation. You can see how that turned out."

Natasha frowned. "What aren't you telling us, Kurt?"

Kurt was almost confused at her presence, but he recognised her from a photo at Uncle Tony's house. He didn't know her name, though. "What makes you think I'm omitting something?"

She smirked. "Trust me, I know. I don't know if you're just not comfortable including it or whatever, but there's something missing from your story."

"How perceptive. You're right. I omitted the part that included Noah taunting and teasing me about my deceased parents."

Tony stood up.

Natasha sighed. "Tony, _sit_ down. You're not going to help anything by letting this take over you."

Tony crossed his legs and grunted. "Fine. But this kid better have apologised."

Kurt scoffed. "Please."

Principal Matthews folded her arms and stared. "Is this true, Kurt? If I ask Noah, will he admit to it?"

Kurt, Natasha and Tony all stared at her simultaneously, their glares eerily similar.

"You seriously can't be that dense," Natasha chuckled.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I'm sure," Natasha continued. "He's a nine year old boy who's facing getting into trouble if he admits that he did something wrong. Do you seriously think, as an educator, that he's going to tell you everything and get himself into trouble?"

"People can surprise you."

The spy smirked. "That much has already been proven today. But I happen to have a very good read on people and I am willing to bet everything that I own that Noah is going to deny it when asked."

Kurt smiled. "Not to interrupt, but can I at least go home now? I'm in quite a bit of pain and would love to clean this blood off myself."

Tony laughed. "Good idea, kid." He turned to Principal Matthews. "If I know my sister, I'm guessing she came down on you pretty hard about how Kurt is treated at school."

The woman nodded.

"Excellent. This is going to fun. Lizzie was very intimidating in her words, but I assure you, that's nothing compared to what I'm capable of."

"Are you threatening me, Mr. Stark?"

"Me? Nope. I'm merely warning you. My nephew is the most important thing in my life and I won't rest until he's treated fairly by both students and faculty. Do we understand each other?"

"Yes."

"Marvelous! Well, I hope for both of our sakes that nothing like this happens again. You got your stuff, Kurt?'

"I do," Kurt nodded.

"No need to linger here, then," Tony smiled pleasantly. "Off we go."

Natasha and Kurt followed his lead in walking out of the room, sharing a look that neither of them could explain. It wasn't as though they had a code, they just felt the need to look sideways at each other in that moment.

Once in the car, Natasha allowed Tony to vent his frustrations. But first, he asked Kurt one simple question that would have changed the way Tony reacted.

"How long have you been treated this way, Kurt?"

The boy shrugged. "I forget. I guess ever since first grade when people realised that I wasn't like them. It's been pretty consistent since then, actually."

Tony and Natasha shared a look.

Natasha hesitated carefully. "You know you don't deserve it, don't you Kurt?"

A smirk played at the edge of Kurt's lips. "Says the woman I met just today whose name I've yet to learn."

She rolled her eyes. "Natasha Romanoff. Nat is fine, though."

"You know who I am," Kurt waved his hand. "It's nice to meet you. I've never met any of Uncle Tony's friends before."

"I think there's a reason for that," Natasha chuckled.

Kurt frowned. "Am I missing something?"

Tony waved his hand. "You'll see soon enough."

Kurt just shrugged and pondered how he was effectively going to remove all of the bloodstains from his clothes.

Tony started to drive the car, looking through the mirror at Kurt every so often, who was caught up in what seemed to be his own thoughts.

Natasha studied Tony, looking for signs of his true personality poking through his caring uncle part. It was then that she realised that maybe Tony was actually this caring person at heart and his cocky, sarcastic playboy nonsense was the façade all along. She could read people, but he was definitely an enigma. So, for that matter, was Kurt. She thought she had him figured out, but she knew that she was wrong.

And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing anymore.

* * *

Nick Fury looked down at the computer screen in front of him.

"What am I looking at, Agent Hill?"

Maria Hill licked her lips. "Sir, this is an intel report collected by some of our agents about recent alien activity in New York. You remember the reading we got when Thor's hammer surfaced?"

Nick nodded. That wasn't a day he was likely to forget in a hurry. "What are you saying?"

Maria looked at him somberly. "Something's on the horizon, sir, something big. We don't quite know what yet, but we're working on it. It might help to see if Thor can gauge what's happening up on Asgard. What do you think, sir?

Nick turned away, looking up to the sky. "I think it's time to assemble the Avengers."


	3. Emergent

Chapter 3- Emergent

* * *

Both Kurt and Tony's routines starting gelling together after the fight incident. Kurt agreed to stay home from school while being emailed his homework assignments and the syllabus so that he didn't miss anything that was crucial to his education. Even though Tony knew Kurt could probably advance straight to high school at his current stage of development and thrive. He was exceedingly intelligent and could probably think and write circles around most high schoolers. Tony always pictured his own child sitting at the table as Tony helped him with math homework or whatever, but this situation was completely different. Kurt wasn't his, even though sometimes it felt like he was, and he didn't need any help with anything. And even if he did, he wouldn't ask for it.

Tony saw a lot of his younger self in Kurt and it was sometimes extremely jarring to watch him go about his life as Tony once did. Almost exactly as Tony once did. He had very few friends, preferred to take comfort in knowledge and took no prisoners, using his intelligence to subtly manipulate his peers without them even knowing anything about it. It was inspiring to watch another pull off what he had mastered before middle school.

Natasha still dropped by every now and then. She said that she was just killing time, but Tony knew that she had grown attached to Kurt and his wellbeing was now an important thing for her. Even though she would never admit it to anyone, least of all Kurt, the sentiment was there and maybe Kurt knew as much.

Everything was quite humdrum for a while, much to Tony's temporary relief. Kurt needed some stability and the less drama that was around, the more he would be able to cope with his losses and aid his own development.

That was until Nick Fury decided to drop by, unannounced.

Kurt was in his bedroom when Tony entered the kitchen, seeing the intimidating man sat the breakfast island.

"About time you came around."

"You were expecting me? I must say, I'm surprised."

"It's not that, you just always seem to show up at my door on in my house when my life is finally drama-free. And with that comes the drama. What's going on this time?"

"We can't be sure until we speak with Thor, but it's a sizable magical reading. Our radars were only just able to handle the potency of the signal."

"And you want me to stop it."

"Not just you. Remember when we talked about the Avengers initiative?"

Tony's eyes widened. "I thought that that was just a precaution."

"It was. And now we need them. I've got Thor gauging things from the Asgard side of things, Banner has agreed to come on board and is heading to go and get Barton. I was wondering if you could talk to Romanoff, I think it would be better coming from you."

"Who says I'm involved in this? You can't just show up and tell me that I have to do something, especially not now."

"Your nephew," Fury guessed.

" _Kurt_. And speaking of, you have no right to enter my house while he's here. I didn't give you access. And as for Kurt—."

"What about Kurt?"

Tony looked as the boy descended the stairs with his book clutched in his hands.

"I heard raised voices so I thought I'd come down."

Tony sighed. "Kurt, this is Nick Fury, my boss of sorts. Fury, this is my nephew, Kurt."

Fury crouched down to Kurt's level, which Tony knew to be a big mistake. "How you doing, kid?"

Kurt appraised the sight in front of him with a smirk. "Perfectly well without your condescending posture, thank you very much. I'm eight, not three."

Fury looked shamed and stood up, coughing. "I apologise."

"No need, I'm quite the anomaly for my age group. What's the important business about?"

"That's classified," Fury snapped, mouth tight and sealed.

Tony frowned, pointing at Kurt. "Nick, he's going to be involved in this no matter what happens. Even if I do agree to work on this, Kurt's going to be directly affected."

"Uncle Tony?"

Tony was reminded of a conversation that Kurt had had with him about secrets and talking about him as though he wasn't there. If he was mature enough to handle something, Tony would tell him.

"We talked about my being Iron Man the other day, didn't we? Well, it looks as though I'm going to be called into action again."

"So you're on board?" The smooth voice of Captain America entered the room and Kurt stopped still. He wasn't wearing the suit, just regular civilian clothes. Kurt would have argued that they made him look even better. Especially the leather jacket. Although he did appreciate the tights.

"Ah, well if it isn't the Star-Spangled Man! How you doing, Cap? Got a plan?"

Cap nodded civilly. "Stark, good to see you again."

Kurt stood, gaping at Captain America. It was really him. So he said as much.

"Captain America."

"Hey there, sport. You must be Kurt." Tony wanted to dance with glee when Steve knelt down to address Kurt. Obviously that was the way Steve operated around children back in the early twentieth century, but Kurt would not appreciate it.

Until he did.

"Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, it's really good to meet you. They taught us about you in class."

Tony was shocked. Until he put two and two together. And, honestly, he should have seen it coming. Kurt had a thing for Cap. It seemed that everybody but Tony himself did.

Steve's brows shot up. "Really? They probably got the facts wrong."

"My teacher didn't want to admit that you were in love with Bucky Barnes, but I could see it in the videos. It was pretty undeniable."

Steve coughed, blushing. "Well, uh, that's…"

 _Nope_ , Tony thought. _This was even better than Cap getting chewed out by an eight year old._

"It's okay. I know you're probably still anxious about people knowing. Force of habit, I'm guessing. Being into boys isn't a bad thing anymore. Well, to most people. The uneducated plebeians still think they can have a say over who loves who but times are changing."

"You tell 'em, buddy," Steve high-fived Kurt, who blushed. Tony was shocked. He had never seen Kurt so…well, like a _child_. Steve made him giddy and excitable. And he high-fived him. Since when did Kurt Hummel high-five anybody? Or allow himself to be called 'buddy'?

"So I guess I'll let you three get on with your meeting. I have _The Birth of Tragedy_ sitting half-read upstairs anyway."

Fury and Cap watched him leave with wide eyes. Tony just shrugged.

"I guess this is what you were like as a kid," Steve commented, not unkindly.

"A little less precocious, but pretty much yeah," Tony replied.

Fury cleared his throat. "So about the initiative."

"Right. Always down to business with you, isn't it? I'm not sure. Maybe I could do it, though Kurt would have to be fully protected at all times, whether I'm on assignment or not."

"Understood. We can get someone to watch him while you're fighting. One of the tech guys can sit with him. Or maybe Rumlow wouldn't mind watching him."

"Rumlow would just make him uncomfortable. I can just ask Pepper to stay with him when we're on location somewhere. She's already agreed to help out with him as much as she can. They haven't met yet, but I'm sure they'll take a liking to each other."

"Good. Now that that's sorted, we can let the initiative run as planned. Thank you for your co-operation, Stark. We'll be in touch." Fury made motions to leave and Tony frowned.

"Wait, why is Cap here?"

Steve turned his head and held up a hand. "Okay, rude."

"No, I just meant…you came here to brief me and recruit me. That doesn't usually require two people to do. Usually just an email."

"I thought you'd need more convincing."

That was a fair point, Tony guessed. "I have something concrete in my life now. I have things I need to protect, people I need keep safe. I'll do whatever I can to make sure that happens."

Steve nodded, smiling lightly. "Hell, I'm not gonna argue with that. We'll get out of your hair, Tony."

"I look forward to your call. Wait, actually I'm sure I do. Judging the size of this life-ending signal you're getting. If you need Thor's help, it must be something pretty big."

"Just…prepare yourself. And Kurt," Cap smiled. "He seems like a good kid."

"Please, he's never been a kid a day in his life."

Tony waved his polite goodbyes at Fury and Cap left the house, Fury driving away while the Captain followed on his motorbike. Tony shut the door and cleared his throat, addressing the upper level of the house.

"Kurt, I know you're listening."

The boy appeared behind the curve of the stairs, wincing. "Sorry. I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to keep anything from me. I swear if any more adults omit vital pieces of information from me under the guise of 'protecting me' I'll set fire to myself."

"Wow, morbid. But I get it. There's not much I'd keep from you, Kurt. I know that you can handle whatever it is. Ideally, I'd want to preserve your childhood, but that's already been and gone, hasn't it?" Tony pouted at that fact, that's Kurt childhood had literally been ripped from him with no warning. Now he was emotionally grown up and that wasn't fair on anyone.

"So what exactly happened? I'm not familiar with the exact line of work."

"Well, to cut a long story short, something alien has shown up, you know like it did with Thor's hammer?"

"Yeah, that was all over the news," Kurt shrugged easily.

"It's bigger than that, it's had a bigger reading. S.H.I.E.L.D thinks that it's big, so Fury has rolled out the red carpet for the Avengers Initiative. It was mostly just a precaution, but he thinks that time has come today for it to be implemented properly."

"So you're going off somewhere to fight aliens with other Avengers and leaving me to fend for myself for long periods of time?" Kurt sounded almost hopeful at the prospect of being left alone.

"I know that sounds like paradise for you, but what kind of guardian would I be if I left you alone? I've asked Pepper to come and stay here while I'm gone. Whenever that is. It'll be fine, you'll love Pepper."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

"On and off," Tony admitted with a sigh. "We have a lot of problems, but we always manage to work through them."

"If she sticks around deals with you out of pure choice, then she must be someone pretty special."

"Watch it, you. I have the authoritative power to…ground you, I guess?"

Kurt snorted. "When I don't leave the house anyway? Good one, Uncle Tony."

"I'll take away your books."

Kurt went pale. "You wouldn't."

"Well, no, I know how important they are to you, but the option is always there if you get really bad."

"Like if I read too many books in one day?" Kurt smirked.

"If you induce nosebleeds in any more of your classmates, we may have to talk."

"Says the man who's going to be murdering aliens soon."

"I'll have a team for that."

"About that, you can have meetings here, you know. You don't have to worry about me. If I get to see Natasha more often, it'll be a bonus."

"And Captain America?" Tony winked playfully.

Kurt blushed. "Hush."

"That got to you."

"He's just like…really pretty to look at. And he's a national hero, what's more attractive than that?"

Tony shrugged. They weren't points that he could argue with. He smirked, thinking of the time Kurt was going to have when puberty struck. Being around people like Steve and Clint and even Nat when his hormones developed? Well that was going to be very fun. "Whatever floats your boat, Kurt. Now, I hate to sound like that parent, but is all of your homework done?"

"Can you really imagine a world in which I haven't done my homework? I already scanned the pages and emailed them to my teacher. She's very surprised that I have my own email address."

"Like you even _get_ emails?"

"Bi-weekly fashion newsletters, Uncle Tony. I can't miss out on any trends."

"Kurt, you're _eight_."

"I'm impressed at your counting skills. Did you have a point hidden somewhere there?"

Tony just chuckled and started prepping lunch. He knew he could have it delivered, but Kurt liked homemade sandwiches that reminded him of his parents. Tony could make them exactly like Elizabeth used to, something that Kurt was extremely grateful for.

Tony looked across the counter at Kurt and thought about the impending battle that was soon to threaten everything. S.H.I.E.L.D were rarely ever wrong about readings like that. It was either nothing or an apocalypse these days. Tony was just going to have fight that much harder to protect Kurt. Not that he needed protecting most of the time, but even Kurt couldn't fight his way through an alien invasion.

As Kurt stared back at him innocently, he smiled at everything that had transpired. They were making of the best of a truly awful situation. Tony knew that he never would have had kids naturally, and Kurt would be the closest thing he had to one. Not a bad example of the ideal child, Tony rather thought.

He just hoped that he could keep his and Kurt's worlds in balance with everything that was to come and that their dynamic would survive whatever was headed their way.


	4. Come Through

Chapter 4- Come Through

* * *

Kurt stared, unblinking, at the clock as it ticked sluggishly, the seconds passed as though he was suspended in time. Nothing was moving, he could only hear the sound of his breathing.

And the breathing of the expectant Bruce Banner.

Dr Banner stared at him with wide eyes as Kurt stayed perfectly still, perfectly silent.

"I know that I asked you to talk in your own time and I'm sticking to that, I just wanted to let you know that there's only ten minutes left of our session. If you want to make a start on anything, now is your time to do so."

Kurt nodded blankly. He didn't know why adults were always so insistent about therapy. Talking about his emotions wouldn't bring his parents back. It wouldn't stop the kids at school from bullying him whenever he was there. He was supposed to heal or whatever, but he could do that on his own. He could do anything on his own if he put his mind to it. He had only agreed to appease Uncle Tony. Uncle Tony had all but begged him to at least sit down with Bruce and try to talk about his feelings if he wasn't going to confide in Tony himself. From the moment Kurt had sat down on the admittedly comfortable sofa, he knew that he wasn't going to do any talking anytime soon.

Dr Banner was a comforting presence, though. He had kindly eyes and soft features. Men usually scared Kurt, but something about Dr Banner put him at ease, the exact opposite to how Nick Fury had made him feel and even Captain America to some extent. They were large, assuming men who had a command to their presences. Dr Banner felt like a friend, or at least a non-threatening entity. Kurt was amazed that they were the criteria for people in his life these days. He had Uncle Tony, Uncle Tony's friends and colleagues, and people who wanted to make his life miserable. He didn't have any friends, and he didn't really know why.

He figured that his unusually high intellect alienated his peers, but he was still a kid. He liked playing sometimes and, when he wasn't reading, he wanted to be using his imagination. He liked certain video games and, although sports weren't his thing, he liked being activity and his dance classes gave him as much of that as he needed.

A sharp vibration startled Kurt from his thoughts. Dr Banner sighed softly and stopped the noise.

"The session's over, Kurt. Before you go, I'd like to ask that you think about trying to talk to me, okay? I know it's difficult, opening up to a stranger about your problems, even if you know how to compose them. Because emotions are tricky and sometimes we don't always know _why_ we feel things that we feel. So, for next week, I'd like you to try and build up to talking. Even if it's not to me, you can talk to your Uncle Tony if you're not comfortable with me. But progress is important, okay?"

Kurt wasn't sure whether he liked Bruce's constant questioning, as if he was checking if Kurt understood everything. It encouraged him to respond with nods and it was definitely a good therapy technique, but it was a little condescending. And Kurt knew that he was only nine, but he rather thought he had a good head on his shoulders. He read voraciously, knew a _lot_ of words and was probably the smartest kid in his grade by quite a way.

But, as Uncle Tony had pointed out in an earlier conversation, that didn't mean he had control over himself yet. Sure, he was more self-possessed that any child his age had any right to be, but he was still a child. He didn't know himself fully yet, and he knew that puberty was going to shake everything up.

So Kurt just nodded to Dr Banner and made his way to the lobby, whether Natasha was waiting for him. Uncle Tony had some Avengers business to take care of so she had volunteered to pick him up instead.

"Hello," Kurt waved to her, trying his best to put on a confident smile. But he should've known better around Natasha Romanoff.

"You hate therapy," she guessed.

Kurt shook his head. "How do you _do_ that?"

She shrugged. "Call it a gift. Also, I'm someone who's seen a lot of mandated therapy couches in my time. It sucks, sometimes. But it does help. And if you can, I suggest you try to make progress."

Kurt nodded. "Dr Banner said the same thing."

"He's a good guy."

They walked in silence to the car, where they began to talk about everyday life. Kurt asked about the Avengers and Natasha asked him about schoolwork and his upcoming birthday.

"Got any plans? You'll be turning ten, right?"

"Yes. I suppose I'll just...hang out with Uncle Tony. Or read if he's not around."

"That's how you're going to spend your birthday?"

Kurt shrugged. "I don't really have any friends to spend it with. All my friends are Uncle Tony's friends."

Natasha didn't know what to say to that. Even when she was growing up, she had had friends her own age. She figured Kurt must've compensated for his lack of friends with books and learning, hence why he was so intelligent. But she was starting to really see him, see the cracks in his collected façade. He really was just a kid and she wanted to make sure that Tony knew that. It was important for him to let Kurt have a semblance of a childhood, at least. Even with everything he had been through, there was still a youth to be had. None of the Avengers, maybe besides Thor, had gotten to have normal upbringings, she would make sure that Kurt did if it killed her.

* * *

Kurt entered the house, hearing the automatic locks click behind him. He was selfishly glad that Uncle Tony was so paranoid about safety. Kurt liked having the extra lock system in place, it put his own mind at rest when he was feeling particularly vulnerable.

Tony was waiting for him in the living room when he returned.

"Hey kid, how was your session?" Tony was careful to avoid the 'T' word, knowing that Kurt would shrink in on himself if he mentioned it. It was bad enough Tony had made him go in the first place. Tony knew it would help him. Eventually.

Kurt shrugged, picking up on apple on his way in. "Fine."

"Did you talk about much?"

Kurt nodded. "Some stuff. I think it's going to help."

Tony narrowed his eyes, but kept prodding. He had a hunch that something was off. "Did Bruce give you any homework? I know he likes to do that."

Kurt swallowed heavily. "Oh, yeah, he said to just think about the things that trigger my emotions. I'm not sure exactly how to do that, but I guess I'll learn."

Tony smirked. "Kurt, you're a terrible liar."

Kurt gaped. "I am not."

"You continue to prove my point. It doesn't matter that you didn't make any progress today, talking to someone is hard."

"You can say the word 'therapy', Uncle Tony. I'm not going to have a heart attack."

"Fine, okay. Therapy is a long process and you get out of it what you put in."

"I didn't even want to go in the first place. It feels so...official."

"Well maybe we can find some time for Bruce to come here, if that's better for you."

"I wouldn't want to disrupt his schedule."

Tony sighed. "He's a friend, you wouldn't be."

Kurt screwed up his face. It was times like this when he lost control of how he felt. Uncle Tony wasn't listening to him and he _really_ didn't want to go to therapy. "Would you stop doing that?"

"What am I doing?" Tony knew exactly what he was doing. Kurt was making excuses to get out of therapy and Tony wasn't letting him take the easy way out. He knew that Burt and Lizzie had a tendency to let Kurt do exactly that, but Tony wasn't going to make that decision. He had given him a pass the first few times, but Kurt was good at adjusting. He could do this.

"You're...you're pushing me. I don't want to talk to anyone about my parents! I don't want to talk to anyone about anything! And you won't leave me alone about it."

"Because I know how valuable therapy is, Kurt. It's helped me out of the exact same position you're in."

"Well, congratulations! You're not damaged anymore, how great for you! Maybe some people work at different paces. Let me do this on my own."

Tony stiffened at his raised voice, but blinked to calm himself. "Look, Kurt, I get that you don't want to talk about what happened. But I know you, you'll bottle everything up until it becomes too much and when it explodes, trust me, you'll wish you talked to someone."

"You don't _know_ me at all! Spending a few weeks and seven Christmases together doesn't mean that you know me even a little bit. You have _no_ idea who I am." And with that, Kurt traipsed upstairs. It was times like this when Tony thanked himself for getting automatic doors for every room so Kurt couldn't slam them.

He did hear something smack against a wall and some stomping, but that soon eased up. He and Kurt were bound to have their first argument at some point, but he wasn't prepared for how that was going to make him _feel_. He felt terrible, even if he was making some valid points. Upsetting Kurt was never something he wanted to do.

* * *

A few hours later, Tony slipped upstairs and hovered outside of Kurt's door. He put in a request with Jarvis to let Kurt know that Tony wanted to come in. Kurt had activated the lock so Tony couldn't get in unless it was an emergency, in which Jarvis would open the doors no matter whether Kurt had locked it or not.

A few minutes of empty silence later, the doors slid open. Kurt was curled up in his bed, rocking back and forth. Tony rushed to his side.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," Kurt muttered.

Tony smiled. "It's okay, Kurt, it's fine. I'm sorry, too, I shouldn't have pushed therapy so hard."

Kurt shook his head. "I know it'd be helpful for me. And I know I get ahead of myself sometimes. Sometimes I just think I know better than everyone and that's not a good trait to have and it's probably annoying, but that's the way I am."

Tony hadn't expected the depth of introspection from Kurt, although maybe that was a sign that he should have stopped underestimating the breadth of Kurt's wisdom. For someone young, Kurt had definitely been through the ringer. Tony had at least had the luxury of being a little bit older when his parents had died. Kurt wasn't even ten yet and he was going to ring in _that_ particular milestone without either of his parents and a guardian uncle who still had absolutely no idea how to be a parent.

"You should never apologise for the way you are. But, and I mean this with as little condescension as possible, as you get older you'll learn to notice things that you don't like about yourself. And some of them might have an adverse effect on others. I've certainly learned a lot about what I do that doesn't quite sit right with people."

"So what are you saying?" Kurt sat up a bit higher, curious.

Tony sighed lightly. "I'm saying that although you should always be yourself, it's good to have an awareness of the situations around you.

"And you were right before. I don't know who you are, because you're so much more than anyone realises, kid. Do you see any other nine years old reading Nietzsche? I certainly don't."

Kurt chuckled. "It is a bit dense for me, I must admit."

"Don't sweat it, you've got all the time in the world to get through those albatrosses."

Kurt inched forward and hugged Tony tightly. "Thanks, Uncle Tony."

Tony patted Kurt's back and smiled. "Anytime, Kurt. Now, how about we talk about your birthday next week? Any special requests? I mean it quite literally when I say you can have anything you want. It's not every day a guy turns ten."

Kurt paused for a second and shrugged. "As long as we don't do that thing where we invite my entire class at school just to be polite, then I don't mind."

"Is there anybody you would like to invite?"

Kurt shook his head sadly.

Tony was taken aback. Kurt had always presented himself to be okay with his current situation, that people his age just didn't get him and that was okay. But Tony also knew that Kurt was surprisingly good at hiding his emotions, even if he was terrible at lying verbally. Tony had just assumed solace was his ideal situation, although hindsight told him that had been foolish. What kid, even one as advanced as Kurt, didn't want friends their own age?

"We could go out for dinner somewhere then," Tony suggested. "Just us?"

Kurt thought hard for a moment. "How about a small get together here? I'd like to meet the rest of your 'associates'."

"That sounds more like a party for me," Tony grinned.

"Natasha will be there and she likes me more than you."

Tony shook his head fondly. "I don't doubt that at all. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it could be fun."

"Boy am I glad to hear you say that word. I was beginning to think you didn't know what fun was."

Kurt scoffed. "I have a growing pile of Dickens novels to read, you don't think of that as fun?"

Tony rubbed his hands together. "Oh, I can't _wait_ until you hit puberty."

"It sounds like a blast."

* * *

Kurt sat in the cold air, cross-legged, his eyes firmly fixated on the small structure in front of him.

He scanned the surrounding area and saw no other people around him, something that pleased him. What he was going to be doing worked best for him without an audience.

He rocked back and forth gently.

"Hi Mom, hi Dad. I'm sorry it took so long for me to come here. I was thinking about it and I'm finally ready, I guess.

"Uncle Tony has been great, really, you don't have to worry about that. I'm doing okay. I miss you guys like crazy every day. Nothing really feels the same anymore even though not a lot has changed. Well, you know what I mean."

Kurt sniffled heavily.

"School's been much of the same. I went back too early and I let my emotions get the better of me. The Puckerman boy is still causing problems. I don't actually know how much of this you guys already know, whether you're watching or if you're somewhere else entirely. I'd like to think you're doing whatever makes you the happiest. Maybe you guys have a little cottage somewhere. Dad can go fishing and build cars while Mom writes music and plays with the dog I always imagine you have."

Kurt laughed quietly, brushing his hair back.

"I wish you were here, but that goes without saying. I keep thinking of all the things I won't get to share with you guys. My first best friend, high school, my first boyfriend, all of these things I'll have to assume that you're seeing. Of course, I'll come back every so often and fill you guys in, when I can. But if you can see me then you'll see that I'm okay. It's a really confusing time but I think I'll be okay in the end.

"I love you both, more than anything. And I'm going to miss you every day, until maybe it doesn't hurt quite as much anymore. I'll be back soon, I promise. I love you."

Kurt sat in their aura for a few moments, soaking in the closeness he suddenly felt with them. He hadn't felt like this since they had passed, it was a strange experience.

He then climbed to his feet and went to leave.

And came face to face with a small blonde-haired boy, who was watching him intensely. Kurt figured he was around Kurt's own age, but he was a little bit taller.

"Hello."

Kurt waved shortly.

The boy held out his hand, presenting a tissue. "I saw you were crying. I always bring these when I come here. Who did you come to see?"

Kurt accepted the tissue gratefully, dabbing his eyes and blowing his nose as quietly as he could. "Thank you. I—my parents. They died a few weeks ago." Kurt strangely realised that it was the first time he had properly said that aloud. Acceptance was closer than he thought. Or not, truth be told, Kurt didn't really know how this stuff worked. Adults always mentioned time being the only healer, but Kurt didn't like that logic.

Sam nodded glumly. "I'm sorry. That must be hard. My aunt died a year ago today, so I was just saying hello."

"Are you alone?"

The boy shook his head, pointing to the far side of the cemetery, where a man and a woman stood by the gate. "My mom and dad are over there. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Kurt smiled. "No, it's fine. You're allowed to have parents. I'm Kurt, by the way."

"I'm Sam. Hey, want to hear something cool?"

Kurt nodded vigorously.

"I met Tony Stark today! He was standing not too far from here by his really nice car and my mom said I shouldn't bother him but he said it was okay and he told me he liked my shirt," Sam rambled.

Kurt's mouth fell open, half in a smile.

"Cool, right?"

Kurt laughed, nodding. "Sam, I have something even cooler to tell you about Tony Stark."

Sam nodded, waiting for Kurt to continue talking.

"He's my uncle."

Sam looked like his entire world had just turned upside down. "He's your _uncle_?"

"Yep. He's taking care of me now."

"That's awesome. What's he like?"

Kurt suddenly had an idea. "Sam, would you like to come over next week? It's my birthday."

Sam nodded once more. "I would like that very much. You're really nice. Do you go to Lima Elementary?"

Kurt's stance shifted slightly. "I'm enrolled there, but I'm taking some time off, you know. But I'll be back soon."

"I just transferred there. I was really scared about it but now it's going to be great! Do you want to be best friends?"

Sam offered his hand for a high-five.

"That'd be nice," Kurt said in a quiet voice, slamming his hand against Sam's. His mind did a triumphant dance. He had made a _friend_.

Sam looked over to his parents, who were gesturing for him to come back. "Uh, I think I have to go. How can I reach you?"

Kurt panicked, he didn't have a phone yet and he didn't really want to give out Tony's address without asking him.

Sam took initiative and waved Kurt over to his parents. "We can sort it out over here."

Kurt was startled by the family resemblance between Sam and his parents. Although the sight of two parents and a child still knocked Kurt off balance, he liked Dwight and Mary Evans very much.

In the end, they had given Kurt their home phone number and said that he can call with the details for the party. Kurt felt strange about leaving the cemetery in a good mood, considering what he had gone there to do, but that was how the situation had unfolded.

He met up with Tony outside, where Sam had described.

Tony waited for him with a big smile. "How was it?"

Kurt shrugged. "It was good. It felt nice to talk with them, you know? I felt close to them and I'm not sure how that happened."

"There's something about these places that'll do that. I'm glad it helped, anyway. What's going on, you look happier than you should be right now."

Kurt smiled. "I made a friend."

"You did? In the cemetery? Are you sure they're not a ghost?"

Kurt rolled his eyes. "No, his name is Sam and he's really nice. He gave me a tissue because he saw me crying and I think we're going to be best friends. I invited him to my birthday...I hope that was okay." Kurt suddenly realised he hadn't cleared it with Tony.

Tony's face, though, lit up like a Christmas tree. "That's great news, Kurt. Of course it's okay for Sam to come over. Wait, are you talking about the excited kid who ran up to me just before?"

"The very same."

"He seemed like a nice kid."

"He is. I got his family's phone number so we can give him the details about the get together."

Kurt chatted excitedly about Sam as they drove home. Tony noticed that it was the most childlike he had ever seen Kurt and he couldn't have been happier.

Kurt had made a friend, was going to try therapy again, things were becoming promising for him.

So why was it that all Tony could concentrate on was the looming dangers on the horizon that threatened to destroy all of that?


	5. Parenting 101

Chapter 5- Parenting 101

"Whoa! This place is so awesome!" Sam cheered as he looked around Tony's house.

Kurt had sorted all of the necessary arrangements, including asking Sam what his favourite food was. When Sam had replied with pizza, Kurt had made it his mission to try and find a pizza that he himself was going to love. He hadn't really had it too much, his mother being a stickler for nutrition. He had tried it a few more times whilst living with Tony, but it was time he truly gave it a go. Like other normal kid things, Kurt had to adapt.

He wasn't going to talk about _Ulysses_ , or his desire to go the opera. He was going to talk about action figures and the kids at Lima Elementary and other things that ten year olds talked about.

His birthday morning was a quiet affair as he had requested.

Kurt had woken up prior to his Jarvis alarm sounding shrilly in his head. The AI had wished him a very happy birthday as he requested the doors be opened so he could go downstairs for breakfast. Jarvis had been stalwart in his stalling tactics but Kurt could see right through him. It was clear that Uncle Tony had planned something and wasn't ready for Kurt to see it yet. He had set an alarm for a reason, after all.

Once Kurt was allowed downstairs, he noticed that Uncle Tony had planned a big breakfast spread, the works really. Kurt was also pleasantly surprised to note the sizable pile of presents in the corner. Tony had allowed him to eat as much as he could but turning to the gifts.

As Kurt opened gift after gift, mostly books and other academic things, Kurt was never one for traditional toys save for the occasional _Sailor Moon_ action figure. He had received a new dance uniform from Natasha, one that Tony explained had been personally tailored for him from her ballet contacts in Russia. Kurt was thrilled and had Uncle Tony text her his gratitude before he saw her later that day. Captain Rogers had gotten him a calligraphy set, something he was surprised the man knew he wanted. He tried to keep the smile and the blush from his face, but Uncle Tony saw right through him as usual.

He had also received several books on meditation and relaxation techniques and how to apply them from Dr Banner. Kurt was looking forward to poring over them and finding out how to escape the constant barrage of thoughts that swirled around his brain at a rapid pace.

Kurt unwrapped a stunning silver bow and accompanying arrows from someone called 'Clint' who Kurt was yet to meet. Tony had been shocked when Natasha had delivered Clint's gift and he had guessed that she had put him up it. The man was to be in attendance at Kurt's gathering later that day, so it would be interesting to see how Kurt reacted to him.

Fury had sent along a gift basket of various sweets and chocolates, something Tony urged Kurt to dip into otherwise Thor would. Kurt had initially been reticent to accept it, given his lack of proclivity for sweet stuff and the damage it could do to his body. Tony had reminded him that he was best to explore that stuff now before his body settled into a long routine.

Kurt was in better spirits about his birthday than Tony had seen since he was put in Tony's care. He reckoned a lot of that good feeling had to do with Sam's imminent arrival. Kurt making a friend his own age of his own accord had done wonders for his growth. He was developing as a child as well as the pseudo-adult he had unwittingly become. Tony was excited to see how this was going to change his mind-set, being around someone his own age for a prolonged period of time.

By the time the party ("Get together!" Kurt had scolded) rolled around, Kurt's excitement had peaked.

When the first knock on the door sounded, Kurt jumped and ran to answer it. Looking through the camera, he saw Natasha's face on the other side. Only slightly disappointed, Kurt allowed her inside.

"Happy birthday, Kurt," Natasha greeted, hugging the kid firmly.

"Thank you. I love the dance clothes. How did you know my size?"

Natasha shrugged. "It wasn't me. I showed my contacts a picture of you and they just knew. They have a gift."

"Well, thank you all the same. I hope you won't be too bored here, I'm not sure it's going to be much fun for you."

Natasha smiled kindly. "Well, I'm not here for me. I'm here for _you_."

Natasha rather thought that Kurt hadn't heard anything like that from anyone who wasn't related to him for a long time, if at all, from the way his face lit up at the words. She was glad that she could make him feel like that, but felt sad that such a simple comment could invoke such a profound reaction in the boy. She chalked it down to his youth, emotions ran so high even before puberty began. Everything seemed like the biggest deal in the world when you were a kid, even with Natasha's upbringing.

"You are?" Kurt's eyes shone as he looked up at her.

Natasha just nodded, suddenly overcome with emotion. This little boy, because that was what he really was, had been through so much in such a short space of time and had set an expectation for himself to be okay. When all he really wanted was just companionship and a peaceful life. And the Universe was giving him the exact opposite as it kept taking and taking and taking everything close to him.

She was worried about the upcoming Avengers missions. She would work to protect Tony from harm even more than she usually would. Because now he had a nephew to come home to, one that depended on him walking through the door at the end of the day.

Kurt was wrapped up in talking to Natasha, he hadn't noticed the man behind her. He stepped behind Uncle Tony cautiously.

Tony smiled. "Hey, it's okay, Kurt. This is Clint Barton, he's the one who got you the bow and arrows. Social workers everywhere are frowning at him for that."

Clint smirked as he stepped properly into the threshold. "Hey, I started younger than him."

"Doesn't count if it's the circus, Clint," Natasha reminded him and he nodded, defeated.

"You got nothing to be scared of with me, Kurt. I'm the weakest one of your uncle's friends," Clint joked jovially.

"It's true," Tony added helpfully.

Kurt revealed himself at last, stepping forward and stretching out his hand. "I'm Kurt Hummel. Thank you for the bow, it's lovely."

Clint shook the hand and marvelled at this kid's precocious wisdom. "You're very welcome. I believe that every kid should have a bow, it teaches patience and discipline."

Natasha snorted. "You were _so_ just trying to win brownie points."

Clint shrugged. "Worked, didn't it?" He winked at Kurt, who giggled.

"That depends whether you'll teach me how to use it or not."

Clint rubbed the back of his head. "Gee, I don't know. I'm worried that getting lessons from the best archer in the world might throw off your training."

Kurt blinked statically. "You're a dork, Mr. Barton."

Natasha cracked up and Tony watched as Kurt scurried away, Clint following helplessly.

They watched as Kurt retrieved the bow and Clint talked him through the safety precautions before he was even allowed to touch the object. Kurt listened patiently and even added some new precautions himself. Tony had rolled his eyes at that one.

Steve, Nick, Bruce, Thor, and Maria had shown up while Kurt was talking to Clint and he had been so enraptured by the archery preparation that he hadn't noticed them. They all left a gift on the counter for when he was ready, though.

Every so often, Kurt would look up from his position at the door, as if by looking, Sam would appear.

When there _was_ a knock at the door, Kurt did a quick scan around the room, wondering if he was expecting anybody else. Realising everyone was assembled, he raced to the door and stared up at the camera.

Sam and his parents stood on the other side. Sam waved into the camera. Kurt pushed the button and the door slid open.

"Hi, Kurt! Happy birthday!" Sam stepped into the house immediately, eyes widening as Tony approached the entrance.

"Hey, kid, how's it going?" Tony greeted.

Sam gaped. "Uh, it's going good, Mr. Stark, sir."

"That's Tony to you, Sam."

Sam nodded, turning to Kurt with an excited expression. Kurt gestured for Sam to follow him into the house so he could meet the others.

Tony laughed at the kid's antics, wondering if he should surprise him by walking in wearing the suit. That would make Kurt the coolest kid in the world, for sure.

Tony turned to address Dwight and Mary Evans, who watched their son with unveiled amusement.

"Thanks for letting him come."

Mary smiled. "When we heard he was invited to his best friend's house for his birthday, how could we say no? Here's a little something for Kurt."

Dwight passed Tony a small box.

"Thank you, both." Tony fished in his pocket and pulled out a card. "Here's my personal number in case you need to reach me while Sam's here or for anything else, really. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

Dwight chuckled. "Sam had his shoes on ready to go about five hours ago. He's pretty much been talking non-stop about all the fun he's going to have today."

"Kurt's too easily embarrassed to show that much excitement, but he's been watching the door like a boiling pot for about two hours now, disappointed every time it wasn't Sam on the other side of it. I have a feeling they're going to be great friends."

Mary nodded. "I hope so. Sam doesn't know anybody here just yet, it's nice that he's made a friend so quickly."

"Kurt doesn't have many friends, either. I think Sam is going to be good for him. He's so eager to grow up and connect with adults that he's forgetting that he's allowed to be a kid for a while."

"He seems like a lovely little boy. I'd love to have him over for dinner sometime. You too, if you'd like?"

Tony nodded, smiling. "I'll look forward to it."

Dwight spotted Sam on the other side of the room. "Well, we'd better be going. We'll pick Sam up at eight thirty?"

"Sounds good."

Dwight and Mary left the front step and drove away.

Tony turned around to scenes of absolute chaos.

He only briefly had time to react as an arrow flew past Sam's head, missing his ear by two inches and go sailing into the wall.

He was ready to scold Clint until he realised that Kurt was holding the bow, stretched out towards Sam.

The room stopped as Tony surveyed the scene. He walked over calmly, pulled the arrow from the wall. He handed it back to Kurt with a glance that said "we'll talk later". Kurt just nodded nervously, understanding the expression, as Sam approached unsteadily.

"Are you going to get in trouble?" Sam whispered as Tony walked away to talk to Bruce.

Kurt nodded indifferently. "Probably. It'll be more about keeping us safe than us actually doing anything wrong, though."

Sam blinked, an idea striking. "I could just tell him it was my idea. Adults never get mad at their kid's friends."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You didn't ask, I offered."

"Still, I have to face my punishment. I chose to shoot the arrow."

Clint chose that moment to creep over, crouching down. "Boys, you gotta be _careful_. Did you not teach Sam the rules before playing, Kurt?"

Kurt looked stoically guilty. It was a clear 'no' on his part.

"I'm sorry," Sam piped up. "I should have known not to be in the way."

Kurt looked aghast. "Sam, it's not your fault at all! I should have been looking properly. Now I've ruined the party."

Clint shook his head. "Your uncle's just protective of you, Kurt. You know that. And if anything happened to Sam, he'd have to explain to Sam's parents."

Sam looked tearful. "We won't play with the bow again."

"Hey, I never said that, you just gotta be careful. Archery can be so much fun, but it's also highly dangerous. I still cause accidents after doing it for all these years."

"You do?"

"You bet. Adults aren't as responsible as Captain Rogers makes us seem," Clint chuckled, glad the kids were feeling more at ease with themselves.

Kurt decided to mingle anywhere that Uncle Tony wasn't, feeling too guilty and embarrassed to talk to him at this moment in time. He chatted with Bruce about the books he got and coming back for his second session. He introduced himself to Thor, whom he couldn't stop blushing around. He introduced himself to Maria Hill, who promised to tell him wild stories about his uncle when he was old enough to hear them.

He spoke to Steve, admiring his leather jacket and asking him about the twentieth century. He spoke with Nick Fury very briefly, still irked by the man.

Eventually, the night wound down.

Sam had left, Kurt promising to report his punishment and wondering when the two were going to see each other again.

Everybody filtered out until just Kurt and Tony were left.

Tony expected Kurt to try to sneak upstairs, but that was just what he would have done when he was younger and in trouble.

Kurt stood in the middle of the room, hands behind his back, head bowed.

Tony perched on the arm of a chair and sighed. "You're not in trouble, Kurt."

Kurt looked up, shocked. "I'm not?"

"Nope."

"But I should be."

Tony shrugged. "Probably. Chances are I'm being too soft on you, but this was the first time I've seen you actually _enjoy yourself_ since you came here. You're being a _kid_ , Kurt, and that's so wonderful. Although we are going to talk about being safe around the house."

Kurt nodded. "It was reckless of me."

"It was. I don't want to insult your intelligence, but that bow is a weapon, Kurt. It can be used to hurt people, accidentally or on purpose."

"I would never—!"

"I know," Tony interrupted, holding his hands up. "I know you wouldn't. But you're aware enough to know how dangerous it can be when you're not fully in control. You probably shouldn't have even loaded that bow just yet. I know Clint spoke to you about safety, but it takes time to learn how to do something like that."

"I won't do it again."

"I know you won't, that's why I'm not punishing you. Look Kurt, kids make mistakes all the time. You ask Sam how many times he's been punished for doing something wrong and almost hurting himself or someone else. As long as you know how irresponsible you were being and learned a lesson from this, I don't see why you should be punished."

Kurt nodded. "Thank you. I have learned a lesson. Sam and I will be careful. We agreed that next time we saw each other that we'd just watch movies or something, that can be fun too."

"Yes it can. And Sam's a good kid."

"He's my best friend," Kurt said, the words still sounding foreign to him.

"And that can be the most special bond in the world."

"Do you have a best friend?"

The question stumped Tony, when he thought about it. He would've said Rhodey, but those two hadn't been on speaking terms for a while now. Nothing had happened, they just hadn't spoken. He made a note to call him the following day.

"I guess I have a few very close friends. Nat, Clint, Steve, Bruce, and Thor are all very dear to me. I wouldn't say I had a _best_ friend, though."

Tony stood up and kissed the top of Kurt's head. "Happy birthday, Kurt."

"Thanks, Uncle Tony. For everything. I had a great party."

Tony smiled at the use of the latter word as Kurt headed upstairs for the night.

He sighed. Being a parent was hard work.

And it would only get harder once the aliens arrived.


End file.
